Len Hamilton

Manchester United let Cristiano Ronaldo leave without a payoff, saving a reported $19 million in remaining wages. A month earlier, two of his former teammates were arguing over whether he should go. “Let me finish!” Roy Keane snapped as Gary Neville pushed for Ronaldo to leave. October 2022. Ronaldo had refused to come on against Tottenham and left before the final whistle. United won 2–0. Erik ten Hag dropped him for the next match. Neville backed the punishment. Keane agreed Ronaldo was wrong — but challenged how United were treating him. Weeks earlier, Ten Hag had kept Ronaldo on the bench against Manchester City, saying it was out of respect for his career. Against Tottenham, he wanted him on for the closing minutes. Keane didn’t think that added up. Then Neville argued United were better without Ronaldo. They scored more goals and won more points without him. His reputation couldn’t guarantee him a place. Keane pushed back. They had loved Ronaldo’s obsession with being the best when he arrived as a teenager. At 37, he still had it. In the video below, neither will let the other finish. Both accept he deserved punishment. They cannot agree on whether United still needed him. Weeks later, Ronaldo told Piers Morgan he felt betrayed by the club and had no respect for Ten Hag. On November 22, United announced his departure by mutual agreement. Sky Sports reported there was no payout. A year earlier, United had welcomed him back. Now they were saving millions by letting him leave.

Manchester United lost roughly $128 million in a year and still paid shareholders about $37 million. After a 4–0 defeat to Brentford, Gary Neville went after the owners on live TV. August 13, 2022. United had conceded four goals in 35 minutes. Jamie Redknapp argued that the expensive players on the pitch had to take responsibility. Neville wanted the conversation to go higher. It got personal: “Look at me when I’m talking to you,” Redknapp demanded. Neville wasn’t backing down. He pointed to money leaving the club while Old Trafford deteriorated. The Glazers, he argued, were letting their employees take the criticism while they stayed in America. Then he challenged the defence everyone kept making: the owners had spent money on players. Whose money? Neville’s point was that United funded those transfers through its own revenue and borrowing. Spending the club’s money wasn’t the same as putting your own money into it. The accounts published the following month added another uncomfortable detail. For the financial year ending June 2022, United had paid about $37 million in dividends to shareholders, including the Glazers, despite a roughly $128 million loss. United had finished sixth. That hadn’t stopped shareholders getting paid.